The visual essay “The Letter Project” was developed Laura Lennert Jensen and me, and can be understood as an alternative form of communicating research results that goes beyond text.
It brings to life the academic article “It’s a bit like saying: I don’t see colour” — Unpacking coloniality in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) through epistolary collaborative practice”, written by the two filmmakers/authors in 2021.The article has developed from correspondence via letter-writing and renders visible the dynamics of the authors epistemic relationship, an essential element of the collaborative process that often stays hidden. In the letters, ideas, and positionalities about coloniality in Kalaallit (Greenlandic Inuit) society today are exchanged, investigating the stance young people take in this discussion.
The essay interweaves the voices of Chahine and Jensen, reading extract from the article, with visual impressions of Kalaallit Nunaat and Denmark, the two main fieldwork cites of the research project being discussed. The Letter Project has initially been developed as part of Chahine’s PhD defence presentation in late 2022 to highlight that her thesis is the result of collaborative engagements, and that we, as researchers, should more consciously include and acknowledge the people we work with in our output formats.
